Nhl Season Is Bettman's To Decide

Could Implement Cap

NEW YORK — If the NHL and the players union don't strike a collective bargaining deal before today at noon, the hockey landscape figures to get uglier and uglier.

Even without baseball's antitrust exemption, according to three general managers, the NHL is preparing to unilaterally implement a salary cap if the season is canceled today by commissioner Gary Bettman.

Florida president Bill Torrey also confirmed the salary cap implementation to Newsday.

But in an interesting twist, the owners are said to be leaning against using replacement players next season. The idea, evidently, is to wait and sweat the players out.

Montreal, Chicago, Boston and Detroit, four of the original six teams and all powerful forces, are said to support the salary cap implementation. This possibility was discussed at length at the NHL Board of Governors meeting Saturday.

This move would certainly figure to bring antitrust suits from the NHL Players Association. It is unknown how not bringing in replacement players would help or hurt the NHL in such litigation.

The owners' last proposal did not contain a luxury tax or salary cap.

The Whalers were among the six teams who voted against the last proposal the owners gave to the players, an offer that was quickly rejected. Toronto, Philadelphia, Detroit, Quebec and St. Louis were said to be the others. If that appears to be an odd mix, it was because Toronto, Philadelphia and St. Louis were said to have lodged protest votes. They were among the seven teams that had voted to approve the players' proposal.

Not starting the season would be ``suicide,'' according to Philadelphia owner Ed Snider, who supposedly is thinking about selling the Flyers if there's no season.

Heading into the meeting Monday, there were several points of contention.

* The NHL plan would allow unrestricted free agency at age 32 for players with at least four years experience. The union would start it at age 30. Although it would appear as simple as making the age 31, many GMs are adamant against lowering the age. Whalers captain Pat Verbeek, for example, will be an unrestricted free agent this June under the NHLPA plan. There has been talk about ``grandfathering'' the clause from 32 to 31 over the course of the agreement.

``A 30-year-old free agency would be a snap if there was some sort of tax in effect,'' NHL senior vice president Jeffrey Pash said. ``Without it, we believe it could be very destabilizing from a competitive standpoint and really result in dividing the league in a relatively short timeinto haves and have nots.''

* The NHL's rookie salary cap starts at $825,000 for first-round picks in 1995 and increases to $1.05 million by 2000. There also is a cap for second-rounders starting at $450,000 and increasing to $625,000 and later round picks starting at $275,000 and going up to $450,000.

The union offer calls for a salary cap of $900,000, regardless of draft round, in 1995 and would increase to $1.225 million by 2000.

Both proposals include two-way deals for entry- level players, meaning significantly less money for those in the minor leagues.

* The NHL plan for salary arbitration includes players 25 or older, with five years in the NHL and would allow a team to pick either a one- or two-year award. It also would allow a team to walk away from up to two awards worth at least $500,000 a year. If a team decides to walk away, the player would have 48 hours to accept the team offer or become an unrestricted free agent.

The union plan includes two options, depending on whether the owners accept a proposal for the union to put $10 million into a pool to help the five small Canadian markets with Group II free agent signings. Under that scenario, the players would be eligible in four years, without the pool players would be eligible in five years. Teams could pick a one- or two-year award and could walk away from one award a year of at least $701,000. If the team decides to walk away, the player, after shopping his services elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent for a short time, still could come back to his original team for the original qualifying offer of a 15 percent raise.

Under both plans, there is no salary arbitration for Group I or Group III (the youngest and oldest players).

* The NHL's plan for the length of the contract is for six years. But the NHL would have sole right to reopen the deal after the 1997-98 season. The NHLPA deal also would be for six years, but either side could reopen the deal on Sept. 15, 1998.

Ironically, the NHLPA was the one who exercised its right to terminate the previous CBA in may 1993. The teams played last season without a deal. In October 1994, the union pledged to play the entire season without striking.

``The reason for the unilateral reopener is it's our belief the insulation is stripped from this deal,'' said NHL senior vice president Brian Burke. ``There is no tax, no cap, all there is is a drag. If the drags works, we won't need to use this right.''